OCZ Gold 1GB PC2-5400

Last October, OCZ released their new XTC heatspreaders that promised to deliver extreme heat dissipation and enhanced stability. The following month, I took a look at their Gold EL PC3200 1GB kit, which surprised me due to it’s overclocking ability. Today I will be taking a similar kit for a run, but the main difference is that this is DDR2. If it overclock’s anything like it’s DDR1 sister, then this is going to be a fun ride.

Obviously what’s unique to this kit is the XTC heatspreader. The honeycomb pattern is supposed to aide in heat dissipation and chances are it does. I don’t have a way to test for memory temperatures, but I wouldn’t rely on a ‘special’ heatspreader to help anything, really. If you have a nice big fan pointing at your modules, then that’s probably the best cooling you can get. I can’t wait for the day when memory water cooling is an everyday product!

These modules are rated for DDR2-667MHz at 4-4-4-12 timings. I found the timings a little odd, because the previous version of these modules with the standard heatspreader had timings of 4-4-4-8. I have been told that both kits use the same memory chips, so I am unsure why the TRAS has been raised. I will of course be testing to see whether a TRAS of 8 is still possible with these, but I’m sure it will be no problem. 4-4-4 is on par with other similar modules on the market, but we’ll also see if we can at least handle a CAS 3.

The rated voltage for these modules are 1.9v, as you’d expect. As with all other OCZ modules, these ones include EVP, or Extra Voltage Protection. This means that you are able to use a VDIMM of 2.2 ±5% without voiding your warranty. This is an awesome feature for those who wish to overclock them right away, it gives you some lenience. It also goes to show that OCZ have much faith in their modules.

The chips used in these modules are Aenion, a variant of Infineon. Aenion is not really known for overclock-ability, so I am interested to see how much I can muster out of them.